The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund today announces that it has received the intellectual property rights to the Comics Code Authority Seal of Approval in an assignment from the now-defunct Comic Magazine Association of America, which administrated the Code since the 1950s.

The Comics Code Seal comes to the CBLDF during Banned Books Week, a national celebration of the freedom to read, and just a few months following a decision in the U.S. Supreme Court where Justice Scalia cited CBLDF’s brief addressing the comics industry’s history of government scrutiny and the subsequent self-regulation the Comics Code represented. Dr. Amy Nyberg, author of Seal of Approval: The History of Comics Code has prepared a short history of the Comics Code Seal and the era of censorship it represents exclusively for CBLDF that is available now in the Resources section of cbldf.org.

CBLDF Executive Director Charles Brownstein says, “As we reflect upon the challenges facing intellectual freedom during Banned Books Week, the Comics Code Seal is a reminder that it’s possible for an entire creative field to have those rights curtailed because of government, public, and market pressures. Fortunately, today comics are no longer constrained as they were in the days of the Code, but that’s not something we can take for granted. Banned Books Week reminds us that challenges to free speech still occur, and we must always be vigilant in fighting them.”

The CBLDF will take over licensing of products bearing the Comics Code Seal, including t-shirts, providing a modest source of income for the organization’s First Amendment legal work. Graphitti Designs is currently offering t-shirts with the Code Seal to benefit CBLDF.

Brownstein adds “It’s a progressive change that the Comics Code seal, which is yesterday’s symbol of comics censorship, will now be used to raise money to protect the First Amendment challenges comics face in the future. That goal probably would have been unimaginable to the Code’s founders, who were part of a generation of comics professionals that were fleeing a witch-hunt that nearly trampled comics and any notion that they deserved any First Amendment protection.”

The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund is a 501c3 not for profit organization dedicated to protecting the First Amendment rights of the comics field. It is currently in the midst of Be Counted, a member drive aiming to raise $100,000 for urgently needed First Amendment legal and education work. To learn more about the CBLDF and to support its efforts, please visit www.cbldf.org

Multiple Eisner Award winner, sensational New Yorker cartoonist and legendary indie comix creator Shannon Wheeler proudly debuts his latest book GRANDPA WON'T WAKE UP at this year's Alternative Press Expo (APE) on October 1st and 2nd at the Concourse Exhibition in San Francisco, CA where Wheeler serves as a special guest of the show.

Published by BOOM! Town, BOOM! Studios' lit-comix imprint, and written by collaborator simon max hill, GRANDPA WON'T WAKE UP is not the children’s book your mother read to you! Best known for TOO MUCH COFFEE MAN and the recent Eisner Award-winning collection I THOUGHT YOU WOULD BE FUNNIER, Shannon Wheeler brings you this Li’l Golden parody that takes a look at the lighter side of discovering a cadaver in your living room. See what ridiculous lengths will be reached in trying to wake up Grandpa…and were those fishnets really necessary?

Wheeler will be signing limited edition signed and numbered copies of GRANDPA WON'T WAKE UP on a first come, first serve basis all during APE at the BOOM! Town booth #247. GRANDPA WON'T WAKE UP debuts in stores on October 5th, 2011.

When Matman got his Montreal Expos tattoo way back in 1994 little did he know it would take on a life of its own!!!And recently...it has!“This thing has been so much fun, “Matman said referring to the tribute to his beloved Montreal Expos! “I get comments on it all the time and for me it was a loving tribute to a team I loved since 1975!”

About a month ago ESPN The Magazine writer Jason Feifer had an idea about a story involving tattoos of sports franchise that no longer existed…and the fans who permanently scarred themselves for them. When it was announced that the New York Islanders were going to put a tattoo parlor in Nassau Coliseum amid rumors of the franchise leaving, Jay started the search! What he found as he looked coast to coast were three fans, two which live 30 minutes apart, that that as he calls then were ‘inked and ditched’!

“I was so thrilled to talk to Jay and represent the hundreds of thousands of Expos fans who cared about Gary Carter, Rusty Staub and Moises Alou more than some of our own family,” added Matman. “And getting into ESPN The Magazine was an honor. I would have liked it to have been for my softball or hockey prowess, but this feeds the ego just as much.”

The issue you can see this is in on newsstands now! On the cover is a celebration of Boston sports with a hand wearing championship wrings of the Patriots, Red Sox, Celtics and Bruins. Matman would only get a tattoo of one of them.

Longtime listeners of Secret Identity may remember that I was in love with the Legion of Super Heroes series from 2004-2009. That series famously ended after a troubled run that was written by Jim Shooter and drawn by Francis Manapul. Issue #50 seemed like it was from a different series, and we later learned there were some behind-the-scenes problems that doomed the book. Shooter talked a bit about the situation with CBR back in 2008, but he didn’t really get into too many specifics.

In the past few days however, both Shooter and Manapul have pulled back the curtain on what it was like to work on the book during that run. On his blog, Shooter gave commenters a look at some of the notes he sent to his editor (which Bleeding Cool later matched up with the pages from the issues in question). From Shooter’s perspective, there were problems with just about every facet of the book, and it seems he feels like no one was following the scripts as he had written them, including Manapul.

Manapul responded on his own blog after reading what Shooter had said. He attributes a lot of the issues on the book to breakdowns in both communication and storytelling philosophy.

As someone who really enjoyed the series and was disappointed by the trainwreck that it ended in, these are some fascinating reads. They really give you an appreciation for how many moving parts there are in the comic making process, and how small things can accumulate into a much larger problem for a book.

Many comic creators look to books like ‘Watchmen’ and think they need to do the next relevant read! Not every book can be ‘The Killing Joke’ or ‘Daredevil Born Again’ and creators and companies should just get back into the business of entertaining tales. Thank goodness Trauma Comics is in the business of having fun!

Combining the best elements of Nazis, the film Red Dawn and the cool Mars Attacks cards from the 1950’s, ‘Nazi Werewolves from Outer Space’ is the story of an alien invasion of werewolves dressed in Nazi gear with plans of enslaving and destroying the entire human race!

That’s it!

Written by Simon Sanchez, the book is a fast paced tale of survival. We join the book as the invasion begins with plenty of blood, gore and car crashes! As the issue winds down we see that Sanchez has a few tricks up his writing sleeve, getting us all ready for the next issue!

The art (and colors) by Dean Juliette jumps right out and pulls you right in! Many of the pages don’t contain words and Dean’s art is very clear at telling the story. He also knows how to draw the gore…

The cover by Jason Flowers is absolutely breathtaking and should be made available as a poster! This is where you first feel the inspiration from those Wally Woods ‘Mars Attacks’ gems.

So yes, I loved this book and why shouldn’t I? ‘Nazi Werewolves from Outer Space’ has everything I want in a comic… mostly fun! There needs to be more books like this that just tell a great story and try not to make any statements. Thanks Guys!!!

Matman Rating - 4.5 out of 5 intestinal yanks! (see the splash page for that one)

Anyone who listens to the show or reads my game reviews knows how much I loved Demon's Souls. A brutally difficult but extremely rewarding RPG. On October 4th, the sequel to Demon's Souls arrives--it's called Dark Souls, and it's rumored to be even more difficult than the first one (if that's possible).

Some of you might be asking why anyone would want to sign up for a grueling gaming experience like Dark Souls. All I can say is, you have to experience it.

Check out the trailer for Dark Souls below, then head over to my blog to read why Demon's Souls was one of my favorite games of all time.

Week three of the ‘New 52’ has hit and here are my thoughts on a few of the books.

Over all, it was a solid week. As I read now I need to put my brain into the fact that yes this is a reboot of the DCU, but apparently some of the events that happened in the old DC happened here as well, just some new twists. Batman – An incredibly solid book!!! Scott Snyder has an incredibly suspenseful way of storytelling that fits perfectly with Greg Capullo’s pencils and Jonathan Glapion’s inks. A bit gothic, a tad traditional and a whole lot awesome!!!Wonder Woman – Having Brian Azzarello writing it kinda scared me, but having Cliff Chang draw it does not! The book is definitely one that may need a few reads (and next few issues) to get a feel for, but I think this one will become one of my favorites! DC Universe Presents – This book will be a tour around the DCU with revolving characters. But I do hope they keep the team of Paul Jenkins and Bernard Chang on this one. The reintroduction to Deadman has an epic scope to it that was fun and easy to fall into.Catwoman – This one is hot, very sexy and a real fun read! Selina Kyle is at her best when she is a little on the edge and Judd Winick has her right there! Artist Guillem March has become one of my favorite ‘Bat’ artists. My favorite of the week!!!Supergirl – I just couldn’t get into this one. To me the story never got going and everytime it started to pick up it went flat. Michael Green and Mike Johnson are not bad writers they just could keep me involved. Mahmud Asrar is a very good artist, just not the right fit for this book.Red Hood and the Outlaws – this was one I had no interest in, but I’m glad I picked it up! Certainly not a kids book, Scott Lobdell has given us a dysfunctional and very lose team. Artist Kenneth Rocafort has a unique style especially in his panel layouts made this another solid comic.Birds of Prey – One of the best artists to draw ‘the ladies’ is Jesus Saiz and this book is made for him! This book definitely has a slow burn feel to it, but writer Dwane Swierczynski keeps it moving with nice action and great dialog! Tiny Titans – Not part of the ‘New 52’ but had me laughing out loud as usual!!! Thanks Art and Franco!!!!!!

This week the comic community lost a truly amazing talent when Minck Oosterveer was killed in a motorcycle accident. Only 50 years old, Minck had long been a well-known figure in the Dutch comic industry, but had recently become known in the US for his work with BOOM! Studios over the past few years. Minck worked on Zombie Tales for BOOM!, and later teamed with Mark Waid for the excellent series The Unknown and its sequel The Unknown: The Devil Made Flesh.

In tribute to Minck, BOOM! has decided to make both of the aforementioned series available for free through comiXology, Graphicly, iVerse and mydigitalcomics. The goal is to expose Minck’s work to those who have never seen it before, and celebrate a truly talented artist who passed way too soon.

I am a big fan of Oosterveer and Waid’s Unknown series, and I would strongly encourage all of you to check it out. I’ll be reviewing the first series on an upcoming Trade-Off episode of Secret Identity.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to the friends and family of Minck Oosterveer. May he rest in peace.

After a brief summer hiatus, Mr. Cordis and I's webcomic Mo Stache returned this week. While the first page is really just a teaser fo Chapter 3, we're excited, and we wanted to share that excitement with you. So, please enjoy this video featuring a very inspiring mustache, and then head over to www.mostachecomic.com and catch up on Mo!